CAD/CAM Insider: Patients satisfied with digital implant workflow

Dear CAD/CAM Insider,

A digital dentistry workflow can save clinicians time and money, but what do patients think of the process? Researchers recently conducted a randomized clinical trial to find out.

Patients reported high satisfaction with a digital process for creating implant-supported posterior crowns. The digital process also bested conventional techniques for one key impression factor. Read more in this edition's Insider Exclusive.

Also in the CAD/CAM Community, researchers detailed how to use cotton swabs and resin to create an accurate implant surgical guide. The swabs and resin can serve as homemade fiducial markers that can help clinicians visualize the implant site to ensure proper placement.

The ADA SmileCon 2021 meeting happened last month, and we took a look at some of the new products at the exhibit hall, including the MouthWatch Plus+ high-definition intraoral camera. MouthWatch debuted the camera at the meeting. It features improved picture resolution, frame rate, and color rendering compared to the original standard-definition camera.

The camera isn't the only piece of new technology featured recently in the CAD/CAM Community. We also took a hands-on look at the new Crown.AI and Margin.AI features for Glidewell's fastdesign.io software. The features use artificial intelligence technology to automatically display a margin around a crown and then generate a crown in minutes.

Finally, you don't want to miss this feel-good piece on how educators have used 3D printing to facilitate distance learning for dental students during the pandemic. An associate professor in Turkey used a 3D printer to replicate teeth so students could practice root canal treatments remotely. The professor created the teeth using cone-beam computed tomography scans.